Just in Time Wiring Information System

ABSTRACT

A just in time wiring information system, which includes an aircraft wiring information system module, a technical reference module, an interactive computer aided cable repair system module, and an e-suite. The e-suite communicates with the aircraft wiring information system module, the technical reference module, and the interactive computer aided cable repair system module such that via the e-suite a user may obtain information from each of the modules.

STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or forthe Government of the United States of America for governmental purposeswithout payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING APPENDIX

This application contains an appendix consisting of a computer programlisting over 300 lines. In accordance with 37 CFR 1.96(c), a computerprogram listing having over 300 lines must be submitted on a compactdisc conforming to the standards set forth in 37 CFR 1.52(e). Twoidentical compact discs have been filed with the Patent & TrademarkOffice in accordance with Title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulationsand each compact disc contains the following files:

Date Filename Size Created Build.jsp  6.6 KB Apr. 12, 2005Build-prod.jsp 6.66 KB Apr. 12, 2005 fw_menu.js 22.3 KB Apr. 12, 2005icars.css 2.32 KB Apr. 12, 2005 ICACRS.ZIP  135 KB Apr. 12, 2005ICACRSUser.zip 57.7 KB Apr. 12, 2005 ItemMSPEC.class 10.1 KB Apr. 12,2005 JTWISMain.htm 1.02 KB Apr. 12, 2005 JTWISMain.jpg 58.2 KB Apr. 12,2005 Techdata.jsp 1.06 KB Apr. 12, 2005 Titlebar.jpg 17.1 KB Apr. 12,2005 tooling.jsp 1.91 KB Apr. 12, 2005

The material on the compact discs and the computer program listingappendix is hereby incorporated-by-reference.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to an information system. Morespecifically, but without limitation, the present invention relates to ajust in time wiring information system.

A United States Government study identified wiring maintenance actionsas the leading cause of unscheduled maintenance man-hours. Furtherevaluation of these maintenance actions has proven that unscheduledwiring system maintenance actions on aircraft wiring systems account foralmost 1.5 million maintenance man-hours within Naval Aviation alone.Much of the maintenance time is spent researching required technicalinformation relevant to the components and tooling required to maintainthe wiring system. The technical information relative to the wiringsystem components currently resides in system or aircraft technicalmanuals, military and commercial specifications, as well as wiringcomponent vendor catalogs. As this information is located in manydifferent, and sometimes inaccessibly areas, this creates a significantincreased impact on overall maintenance man-hours.

The predominant resource used by U.S. Navy Fleet maintainers,engineering and commercial manufacturers and repair activities are thesystem or aircraft Technical Manuals. These manuals are generallyprovided in paper format. Several problems of these resources include:the requirement of several hundred manuals to describe the operation,maintenance and repair processes; required information for a specificmaintenance action is dispersed among multiple manuals; discontinuity ofinformation; pages of paper technical manuals can be damaged andunreadable when used in inclement environments.

Thus, there is a need in the art to provide an information systemwithout the limitations inherent in present methods.

SUMMARY

It is a feature of the invention to provide a just in time wiringinformation system that includes an aircraft wiring information systemmodule, a technical reference module, an interactive computer aidedcable repair system module, and an e-suite. The e-suite communicateswith the aircraft wiring information system module, the technicalreference module, and the interactive computer aided cable repair systemmodule such that via the e-suite a user may obtain information from eachof the modules.

It is a feature of the invention to provide a just in time wiringinformation system that decreases unscheduled maintenance man-hours onaircraft. It is another feature of the invention to provide a just intime wiring information system that reduces maintenance cycle times.

It is a feature of the invention to provide a just in time wiringinformation system that increases operational readiness and improvedmission availability, decreases technical manual reproduction anddistribution costs, and reduces engineering, logistics and maintenanceplanning costs.

It is a feature of the invention to provide a just in time wiringinformation system that operates as an umbrella program that can providemultiple resources in a central location.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood with reference to the followingdescription and appended claims, and accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the just intime wiring information system;

FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the aircraftwiring information system module;

FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram of an embodiment of thetechnical reference module;

FIG. 4 shows a functional block diagram of an embodiment of theinteractive computer aided cable repair system module;

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart for entering an embodiment of the just in timewiring information system;

FIG. 6 shows a flow chart of an embodiment of the aircraft wiringinformation system module;

FIG. 7 shows a flow chart of the aircraft wiring information systemmodule obtaining information; and,

FIG. 8 shows a flow chart of the interactive computer aided cable repairsystem module obtaining information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated by wayof example below. and in FIGS. 1-8. As seen in FIG. 1, the just in timewiring information system (JITWIS) 10 includes an aircraft wiringinformation system module 100, a technical reference module 200, aninteractive computer aided cable repair system module 300, and ane-suite 400. The e-suite 400 communicates with the aircraft wiringinformation system module 100, the technical reference module 200, andthe interactive computer aided cable repair system module 300 such thatvia the e-suite 400 a user may obtain information from each of themodules.

In the discussion of the present invention, the system will be discussedin an aircraft wiring environment, specifically a tactical aircraftwiring environment, however, the system can also be utilized with othertypes of vehicles, apparatuses or machinery.

The aircraft wiring information system module 100 may be defined, butwithout limitation, as a database containing cross-referencedinformation on wiring system components and associated maintenance andrepair tooling. The database may be electronic and web based. In thepreferred embodiment, as seen in FIG. 2, the aircraft wiring informationsystem module 100 may include, but without limitations, a componentsearcher 105, a report generator 110, and a technical feedbackcommunicator 115. The component searcher 105 is a searcher that givesthe user the ability to search the aircraft wiring information systemmodule 100 for tooling for a specific tooling requirement based on thetype of component and part number. The report generator 110 generates areport based on various criteria. For example, the user may request areport of connector components only for the F/A-18 EF platform. Toobtain this report the user will choose the connector report and theF/A-18 EF platform. There are several types of reports that may begenerated, for example, but without limitation, a connector report, areference designator and harness report, and a tool set report. Allthese reports can be executed against a specific platform, i.e. F/A-18EF, EA-6B, MH-60R, etc. The technical feedback communicator 115 allowstwo-way communication between a researcher and the user. The user mayrequest information about a specific component/wiring that is notdescribed or included in the system 100. In this case, the user may fillout a form and request that research be completed on a specificcomponent or part number. When the form is completed, a notification isemailed to an administrator of the system with the request attached.This information is received and the applicable part number isresearched by a researcher to identify the repair tools required to fixthe component. The information can then be sent back to the user. Theaircraft wiring information system module 100 may also include featuresthat allow. technical notes (i.e. unique information relating to aspecific component) and tooling requirements (identifies specifictooling based on a component).

The technical reference module 200 provides a centralized repository forwiring system maintenance information. The technical reference module200 functions as a repository of documents that can be integrated intothe just in time wiring information system 10 and provide specifictechnical information to users. In the preferred embodiment, as seen inFIG. 3, the technical reference module 200 includes a subject searcher205, a task and procedure linker 210, and a key word searcher 215. Thesubject searcher 205 may permit searching of information disposed withinthe technical reference module 200 by linking an index with individualelements. The task and procedure linker 210 may permit searching taskelements to required procedures disposed within the technical referencemodule 200. The key word searcher 215 may provide general searchcapability through the technical reference module 200. The technicalreference module 200 may also include authorized repair procedures(provides authority for reparability) and quality assurance (identifiesall authorized repair procedures with inspection criteria).

The interactive computer aided cable repair system module 300 providesmilitary specification (Mil-Spec) information and accessoryidentification for Mil-Spec families. As seen in FIG. 4, the interactivecomputer aided cable repair system module 300 may include the followingfeatures: a unique build capability builder 305; a part number verifier310; a graphical representer 315; tutorials 320; and a users guide 325.The unique build capability builder 305 allows the user to “build” apart number for a component based solely on the physical characteristicsof that component. The physical characteristics of the part number maybe obtained from military specifications disposed within the interactivecomputer aided cable repair system module 300. The part number verifier310 allows the user to verify the accuracy of a part number. Thegraphical representer 315 contains representative line drawings ofconnectors based on the military specification characteristics. In oneof the embodiments, there are twenty-one military specificationscontained in the interactive computer aided cable repair system module300. These specifications contain information about the parts orcomponents. For example, MIL-C-38999 contains specific information onthe circular connectors in the 38999 families. The information includes,but is not limited to, the pin out of the connector, contacts which areapplicable to the connector, etc. The tutorials 320 include varioustraining modules for initial and refresher training. The users guide 325is the operational description of the interactive computer aided cablerepair system program.

In operation, in one of the embodiments of the invention, when a userinitiates the just in time wiring information system 10, as seen in FIG.5, the system begins with an initial username and logon 501. Uponsuccessful log-on, the system enters the just in time wiring informationsystem 10 or JITWIS home page 502. This log-on as well as anyoperational commands or procedures, or communications between modulesare executed by the e-suite 400. The user may then choose to enter theaircraft wiring information system module 100, the technical referencemodule 200, or the interactive computer aided cable repair system module300 or a user help guide 510. Each module may be entered through amodule home page as shown in FIG. 5.

As shown in FIG. 6, in one of the embodiments of the invention, when theuser enters the aircraft wiring information system module 100 andperforms a search (via a user search), the part number is passed fromthe aircraft wiring information system module 100 to the interactivecomputer aided cable repair system module 300 via the e-suite 400. Theinteractive computer aided cable repair system module 300 then evaluatesthis part number (by performing a interactive computer aided cablerepair graphic identification process), and a specific component graphicdisplay is passed via the e-suite 400 to display in a frame within theaircraft wiring information system module 100 search results screen.

In an embodiment of the invention, within the aircraft wiringinformation system module 100 is the tooling information required torepair a component The tooling information contains the tool part numberas well as a tool type that is assigned based on the function of thetool. The e-suite 400 provides a link to the military standard ortechnical data, which identifies how to properly use the tool. Anexample of this functionality is shown in FIG. 7.

In an embodiment of the invention, within the interactive computer aidedcable repair system module 300, once a part number is identified, thetooling information is also provided via the e-suite 400. The partnumber is evaluated and the tooling data request is evaluated by theaircraft wiring information system module 100, and then specific data isforwarded back to the interactive computer aided cable repair systemmodule 300 for display. The tooling data includes the tool part numberas well as the tool type. Once the tool type is provided, the e-suite400 also provides a link to the military standard or technical data,which identifies how to properly use the tool. An example of thisfunctionality is shown in FIG. 8.

The just in time wiring information system 10 may reside within acomputer. This system (and its related algorithm) is executable on anycomputer with access to the input data required. The preferredembodiment of the algorithm is listed in the computer program-listingappendix.

When introducing elements of the present invention or the preferredembodiment(s) thereof, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” areintended to mean there are one or more of the elements. The terms“comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive andmean that there may be additional elements other than the listedelements.

Although the present invention has been described in considerable detailwith reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, otherembodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of theappended claims should not be limited to the description of thepreferred embodiment contained herein.

1-8. (canceled)
 9. A computer software system, the system having a setof instructions for co trolling a general purpose digital computer inperforming a desired function, the functions comprising: taking inputdata from an aircraft wiring information system, technical references,and an interactive computer aided cable repair system; communicatingwith the aircraft wiring information system, the technical references,the interactive computer aided cable repair system and a user such thatthe user may obtain information from the input data.
 10. A just in timewiring information system comprising: a database containingcross-referenced information on wiring system components and associatedmaintenance and repair tooling; a centralized repository for wiringsystem maintenance information; a military specification (Mil-Spec)connector and accessory identification for military specifications; ane-suite, the e-suite communicating with the database, the repository andthe connector and identificator such that via the e-suite a user mayobtain information from the database, the repository, and militaryspecifications.
 11. The just in time wiring information system of claim10, wherein the database is electronic and web based.
 12. The just intime wiring information system of claim 11, wherein the databasecomprising: a component searcher for searching tooling for a specifictooling requirement based on type of component and part number; and, areport generator for generating a report based on various criteria. 13.The just in time wiring information system of claim 12, wherein thecentralized repository comprising: a subject searcher for searchingdocuments disposed within the centralized repository; a task andprocedure linker for searching task elements disposed within thecentralized repository; and, a key word searcher for searching documentsdisposed within the centralized repository.
 14. The just in time wiringinformation system of claim 13, wherein the military specification(Mil-Spec) connector and accessory identificator for militaryspecifications comprising: a unique build capacity builder to obtain apart number for a component based solely on physical characteristics ofthe component, the physical characteristics of the part number obtainedfrom military specifications; a part number verifier for verifyingaccuracy of a part number from military specifications; and, a graphicalrepresenter for displaying representative line drawings of connectorsbased on military specification characteristics.